Repetition in literary discourse

“In the fall the war was always there, but we did not go to it any more”.

And the last one of the seventh paragraph is:

“We only knew then that there was always the war, but that

we were not going to it any more”.

This parallel structure which frames a large part of the text is used by the author to indicate the division of the text into pieces larger than a paragraph. At the beginning it is used before the description of what it was like there in the hospital and what was going on around, and at the end this pattern is used as a summing-up to what was narrated in this part.

Further in the text there is repetition used to describe the patriotism of the cafe girls, where the young soldiers usually went:

“The girls at the Cova were very patriotic, and I found that the most patriotic people in Italy were the café girls - and I believe they are still patriotic”.

The author wanted to foreground this word to deliver the idea of patriotism, which is an important quality of a person. It is known, that Hemingway wrote his stories putting a piece of himself into every story. Probably, his patriotism is reflected in this paragraph. Though the author seems to be ironic about the cafe girls and their patriotic actions, but still he lays an emphasis on the word “patriotism” and thus makes the readers understand the importance of it.

At the end of the tenth paragraph there are the narrator's thoughts about the war shown and his attitude to death:

“...and I was very much afraid to die, and often lay in bed at night by myself, afraid to die and wondering how I would be when back to the front again”.

The fear of death is a feeling that everyone in the world has. And here through the thoughts of the American soldier Hemingway wanted to make the sentence appeal to reader's senses and create an image of the war, of death and other terrible aftermath of the bloodshed. He used it to sustain the atmosphere of the story so that it would not lose its grave and disquieting mood.

Closer to the end of the story we can come across devices of repetition used in the speech by the Italian major:

"He cannot marry. He cannot marry," he said angrily. "If he is to lose everything, he should not place himself in a position to lose that. He should not place himself in a position to lose. He should find things he cannot lose."

First of all, the repetition of the phrase “he cannot marry” can not be compared to the repetition of the sentence “very interesting”. The emotional state of the Italian major is completely different. He told this to the American soldier after his wife's death, although it is revealed later in the text, but such an acute reaction makes the reader feel his tension. It can be said, that the author wanted to deliver the major's desperation caused by his wife's death to the reader. The major continues and comes again a repetition of the pattern “he should”. Two times it is used as “he should not place himself in a position to lose”, which is a makes a reference to the loss of his wife, the major can't believe that this loss has occurred in his life. The last sentence in the chain lacks negation, and emphasizes the emotional impact on the reader, in this sentence there can be traced the strong yearning of the major. So in this part the repetition plays an important role and it bears a great function of conveying the character's emotional state to the reader.

Conclusion To Analytic Part II

Let us sum up the main functions which repetition performs in the story “In Another Country”. Repetition may be classified in the story as:

1) Repetition that creates an atmosphere:

[...In the fall the war was always there, but we did not go to it any more. It was cold

in the fall in Milan and the dark came very early...]

2) Repetition that creates an image of war:

[... very much afraid to die, and often lay in bed at night by myself, afraid to die and wondering...]

1. Repetition that embellishes the passages:

[...Two of the ways were alongside canals, but they were long. Always, though, you crossed a bridge across a canal to enter the hospital...]

2. Repetition that reflects the emotional state of the characters:

[...He cannot marry. He cannot marry...]

[... Very interesting, very interesting...]

3) Repetition that accentuates the author's ideas

[...were very patriotic, and I found that the most patriotic people in Italy were the café girls - and I believe they are still patriotic...]

4) Repetition that is used in character's speech in order to imitate spoken language variety and also to render to the reader the emotional state of the character.

It is also important to mention that in contrast with the story “Cat in the Rain” the story under analysis contains no examples of repetition at the phonetic level. Writing the story “In Another Country” Hemingway makes use of lexical repetition (root repetition, lexical repetition proper) and syntactically-rooted repetition (frame repetition, polysyndeton).

4. Analytic Part III

4.1 Jerome David Salinger's Brief Biography

Jerome David Salinger was born on the 1^st of January in 1919 in New-York, USA. He is an American writer who is mostly famous for his novel “A Catcher in the Rye”. His last work was published in 1965, 45 years before his death in 2010. He was brought up in Manhattan, started to write stories when he studied at school. Some short stories were published at the beginning of the 1940s, before he became a soldier in World War II. First stories were published in “Story” magazine. In 1948 he published “A good day for banana fish” in “New Yorker”. That story was a success. In 1951 he released his most famous novel “A Catcher in the Rye”, which was favoured by many readers. In 1953 he published his book titled “Nine Stories”, in which there were different stories written before 1953. One story among those nine is titled “Pretty Mouth and Green my Eyes”, and is the story, which will be further analysed.

4.2 Brief Summary of the story “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes”

The story begins with a phone ringing. A man with gray hair asks the girl close to him whether she would object him answer the phone. The man picks up the phone and the conversation begins. It becomes obvious from the beginning of the phone conversation, that the gray-haired man's name is Lee, and his interlocutor's name is Arthur. Arthur asks if he had woken Lee up. Arthur asks if Lee had seen Arthur's wife leaving. It can be guessed by the story, that Arthur's wife, Joanie, is right next to Lee who is Arthur's friend. The girl, who is further recognized as Joanie smokes several cigarettes through during the entire story. Arthur is in desperation, he is worried and anxious about his wife's disappearance. Arthur is drunk while talking on the phone to Lee. Lee tries to calm Arthur down and give him some advice. Arthur is annoyed about the fact, that his wife sleeps with other men around and that there is no love between the two of them. He continues talking rubbish about his wife. Lee is annoyed by this conversation, and he tries to calm Arthur down through their two phone calls. But Arthur is not so decisive about going to sleep. When Lee finally terminates their conversation he hangs up the phone and then it is revealed in fact that the girl lying next to him is Joanie.

4.3 Analysis of the story “Pretty Mouth and Green my Eyes”

The story is very interesting from the analytical point of view. The conversation between the two men throughout the story has a lot of instances of repetition. There are some phrases that are repeated over and over through the storyline. To begin with, Arthur always expresses his indignation with the word “Christ”:

… “No. Christ, no. You didn't see her leave at all, then?”...

… “Oh, Christ. Who knows?....”

… “Christ, I'm not even sure she left with them...”

… “Home sweet home. Christ.”...

And so the word numbers 16 times to be used in the story. Salinger fills the character's speech with numerous repetitions of the exclamation “Christ” in order to convey to the reader Arthur's boiling emotions, his tension, unrest and confusion.

Arthur's frustration and desperation is also expressed in the way he always says “I don't know”, and usually he repeats the phrase twice, one by one:

… “I don't know. You know her when she gets all tanked up and rarin' to go. I don't know”...

… “I don't know yet. I'm not crazy about the idea, naturally, and I won't go if I can possibly avoid it. But I may have to. I don't know”...

Sometimes Arthur is being almost convinced by his friend Lee and at that moment his tension subsides and he says the phrase “I know” rather than the one previously discussed:

… “Yeah. I know. I know. I don't know, though”...

… “I know, I know. Excuse me. Christ, I'm losing my mind”...

In contrast to Arthur, Lee is quite calm, and he replies with the phrase “All right” to calm Arthur down:

… “All right. All right” Get in bed, then”...

… “All right, all right. You realize this isn't getting us anyplace”...

There is the word “cigarette” repeated throughout the story as well. In most Salinger's stories cigarette always stands for something negative it is often followed by negative or unhealthy connotation. In the story a cigarette may stand for flashy relationship between Joanie and other men who she was sleeping with.

Several times in the story Arthur tells Lee that he is losing his mind and asks Lee to hang up the phone and give up on him. Hemingway wanted to show the apogee of Arthur's negative emotions, which then descend to a lower level.

Arthur interests several times if he had woken Lee up:

… “Yeah - I wake you?”...

… “You sure I didn't wake you? Honest to God?”...

… “Honest to God, you sure I didn't wake you?”...

This shows Arthur's egocentrism. In fact, he pretends to be polite, but he does irritate the interlocutor with these phrases.

Conclusion to Analytic Part III

As it is seen from the examples, this story stands out among the previous two. Repetition is not used in the descriptive and narrative parts of this story. Repetition is used only the conversation between characters. The manner in which the two of them are speaking differs. For example, Arthur speaks in a frustrated and angry manner, and Lee, on the contrary, is self-confident and calm. The repeated phrases which appear in the lines of the two characters differ. Arthur's words are repeated very emotionally, but Lee's phrases are confident and calm.

So let's put the repetition into several categories according to its function in the text:

1. Repetition that reflects Arthur's stress and tention:

[...I know!, I know!...]

[...Christ! I'm losing my mind...]

2. Repetition used by Lee to calm Arthur down:

[All right. All right.]

[Forget it, now. Forget it, now]

Conclusion

To summarize this graduation paper, can be done a list of conclusions on what has been analysed.

First, as it is seen from the analytic part of the stories - repetition can be used to set the atmosphere of the story. It is seen in the story “A Cat in the Rain” and in “In Another Country”. In these stories the atmosphere delivered through the use of repetition is dull, or just closer to negativeness, so it can be said that it is much more effective to use repetition with the aim of setting the negative atmosphere.

Second, the emotional state of the character is shown with the help of repetition. Precisely, through their speech in the stories. For example, in the story “A Cat in the Rain” - the example with the repetition “I want” is a perfect way to reflect the rising emotions of the character. As well as in the story “Pretty Mouth and Green my Eyes”, the repetition is used to demonstrate the characters anxiety and the precarious emotional state. And, what flows out of here - repetition can also be used to show character's indifference, or calmness, or self-confidence, as it is seen in the story “Pretty Mouth and Green my Eyes” as well.

Repetition may also demonstrate the routine of a lifetime, and it can be seen in the stories “A Cat in the Rain” and “In Another Country”.

As well, with the help of repetition can be shown the character's strong intention of doing something, and the example is in the story “A Cat in the Rain”.

The stylistic device of repetition may be applied to show the contrast between two people, for example, or to create an image of somebody to replace the character.

Sometimes repetition is used to frame the particular part of text. With the use of the stylistic device in this way the text becomes more memorable, and it appears to be one the most important function of repetition.

So, repetition plays a great role in texts, where the above mentioned factors need to be delivered to the reader.

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